David Sylvian

David Sylvian (born David Alan Batt, 23 February 1958) is an English singer-songwriter and musician who came to prominence in the late 1970s as frontman of the band Japan. The band\'s androgynous look and increasingly electronic sound made them an important influence on the UK\'s early-1980s New Romantic scene. Sylvian\'s subsequent solo work was described by AllMusic as "far-ranging and esoteric." He has collaborated widely with artists such as Ryuichi Sakamoto, Robert Fripp, Holger Czukay, and Fennesz.\n', '

The band Japan, whose other members included bassist Mick Karn, guitarist Rob Dean, keyboardist Richard Barbieri and Sylvian\'s brother Steve Jansen as drummer, began as a group of friends. As youngsters they played music as a means of escape, playing Sylvian\'s two-chord numbers – sometimes with Karn as the front man, sometimes with Sylvian at the fore. A fan of the New York Dol…